Method and apparatus for obtaining an aliquot of a cytological specimen based liquid.

A sample vial (10) comprising 5 a collecting chamber (20) for storing a cytological specimen based fluid; a valve mechanism (24); one aliquot chamber (22); access port seal (72) that provides access between the aliquot chamber and the exterior of the vial; and vial cap (14) configured to join with the vial to enclose the collection chamber, in which the 10 valve mechanism comprises or is coupled to a wall of the aliquot chamber and is applied to seal the aliquot chamber from the collection chamber unless actively acting to separate the aliquot chamber from the collection chamber and thereby allow an aliquot of the sample collection chamber to flow into the aliquot chamber while the chamber collection is isolated from the external environment of the vial, and, if not actively actuated, the valve mechanism applied seals automatically chamber 15 aliquot of the collection chamber in order to isolate the aliquot sample from the remaining part sample collection chamber, and wherein the valve mechanism can be externally manipulated to be sealing and selectively separating the aliquot chamber camera rec ogida.